Chess Ratings

Chess ratings (or gradings) determine the relative strength of a player. They are sometimes called Elo ratings after the inventor of the rating system. Ratings give a good indication of how one player will play against another and suggest what the result is likely to be. Basically, if you are rated the same as your opponent and you win, you gain a small amount of points but beating a player rated much higher gets you proportionately more points. Similarly if you lose, you lose the same number of points your opponents gain. If there is a significant difference in ratings between players who draw a game, the lower rated player will usually gain some of her opponents points. You can only gain a mximum of 32 points in one game, so you can appreciate that it takes a long time to build up a good rating. Over time, your rating will reflect your true playing strength. A rough idea of how strong any given player is given in this table:

Level	Rating
Absolute beginner	up to		1000
Social player or Novice	1000	-	1400
Average club player	1400	-	1600
Strong club player	1600	-	1800
Expert club player	1800	-	2000
Internationally rated (IM)	2000	-	2400
FIDE Master Level (FM)	2400	-	2600
Grandmaster level (GM)	2600	and over

Club chess-games observe a number of simple rules to ensure fair play. The important ones for non-competition chess include:

Touch-move

Once you have touched a piece, you are obliged to move it. If you want to adjust your piece on the table, you must say J'adboube - French for I adjust but too much of this is frowned upon.

Hovering

Hovering with your piece above the board or with your hand over a piece while deciding whether to move is also considered impolite.

Clock handling

The player with the black pieces can decide which side of the board the clock should be placed on. You must always move a piece and press the clock with the same hand.